Which to use
“resfrío” is a noun and “residió” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,577
- “resfrío” frequency rank
- #44,980
- “residió” frequency rank
- 90557
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | resfrío | residió |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enfermedad de las vías respiratorias superiores, en especial de la faringe y nariz, ocasionada generalmente por virus (resfrío común), o causada por bacterias o de origen alérgico. Se caracteriza por una inflamación de las mucosas con abundante moco, congestión nasal, fiebre y malestar general. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de residir. |
Where the eye mixes resfrío and residió
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. resfrío (CVCCCVV) and residió (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses resfrío with residió
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: resfrío is [resˈfɾio] while residió is [resiˈð̞jo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
resfrío is recorded at frequency rank #45,577, classified as anoun, pronounced [resˈfɾio]. residió is at rank #44,980, tagged as averb, pronounced [resiˈð̞jo].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 90557, this pair ranks #2,433 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of resfrío vs residió
Shared letters: ers. Private to "resfrío": foí. Private to "residió": dió.
"resfrío" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV · "residió" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "resfrío" for "residió" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "resfrío" or "residió" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "resfrío" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "residió" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,433 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "resfrío" and "residió" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "residían vs residió". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #2,433 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.